Many web sites on the World Wide Web (WWW) today use the Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security (SSL) protocols to achieve end-to-end secure communications, particularly in the areas of electronic commerce and financial services. The TLS protocol is derived from SSL, and is described in “The TLS Protocol, Version 1.0, RFC 2246 (Jan. 1999).” As used throughout this application, including the claims, SSL refers to SSL, TLS, and all secure communications protocols derived therefrom.
IPSecurity (IPSEC) is a set of protocols and associated algorithms designed for providing security for Internet traffic, at the IP layer. IPSEC is described in “Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol, RFC 2401 (November 1998).”
The most widely used SSL-enabled protocol today is the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) encapsulated in an SSL connection, commonly known as HTTPS. The HTTP protocol is described in “Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) version 1.1, RFC 2616 (June 1999).” Other SSL-enabled protocols include File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), TELNET, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), and Post Office Protocol (POP).
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) protocol is applicable to wireless communications. The WAP WTLS is described in “Wireless Transport Layer Security, Version 6 Apr. 2001.”
A digital certificate is a digital statement used for authenticating an entity. Often, the digital statement is cryptographically signed by a trusted authority. The format of one type of certificate is specified in “Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile, RFC 2459 (January 1999).”Alternative certificate formats are also available.
The Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application level protocol for transferring resources across the Internet, e.g., a network data object or server, where the resource is specified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML) is a simple data format that is used to create hypertext documents that are supported by the HTTP protocol. These standards are commonly relied upon in technology of the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet.
A server array controller is an Internet traffic management device. Server array controllers (hereinafter referred to simply a “controller” or “controllers”) control the flow of data packets to and from an array of application servers. The controller manages and distributes Internet, intranet and other user requests across redundant arrays of network servers, regardless of the platform type. Controllers support a wide variety of network applications such as web browsing, e-mail, telephony, streaming multimedia and other network protocol traffic.